Akshay Kumar's performance was energetic and enjoyed. Fifteen years later when composer A.R. Rahman had the opportunity to work with Akshay Kumar for the first time, he told the Times of India, "My first memory of Akshay is his grooving to 'Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast Mast' with Raveena Tandon in Mohra. The year was 1994 and I had just completed the music of Rangeela.''

Raveena Tandon's performance was also well received. In an April 2012 Rediff interview Raveena Tandon said, "It feels very good that they still call me the 'Mast Mast'girl." While she never expected the song to continue to be such a big hit years later, she recalled the challenge of filming the item number:

"It was just another song and I remember I fainted during the song. I had just come from Kulu Manali. We were shooting in the snow there. I drove down to Delhi and took a flight to Mumbai. I went straight from the airport to Filmistan. The temperature was 35 degrees (95 degrees F) and the studio lights added to the heat. It must have been 40 degrees (104 degrees F) inside and there were no AC studios then. From the snow to this, my blood pressure dropped and I fainted on the sets. It was a very hectic dance routine."

The word "mast" translates to english as "drunk" or "intoxicated". While the word "mast" is repeated often throughout the song, the Eros DVD version of the film provides the following subtitles for the song:

Male: You are a wonderful babeYou are devoid of your sensesYou are devoid of your senses for you have the zeal of youthIt is no fault of yoursFor you are intoxicated every moment

Female:Lover is your nameLover is your nameTo steal and give a heart is your jobDo not hold my arms for you are a man, so malignedTell me, O loveWhat's so special about me?

Male:You are a thread made of silkYou are a thread made of silkLovers strut behind you when you walkYour thick tresses, sweatheart, are like the dark clouds aboveThis heart of mine is drowned in the depth of your eyesBecome my loved one

Female:Do not pierce me with your eyesDo not pierce me with your eyes for it will hurt me all overDo not think it is easy, my dearThis love is very tough

"Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast Mast" was so popular that it was one of the three songs chosen to be incorporated into the 1995 Zamaana Deewana song "Parody".

This item number is particularly noteworthy as Anupam Kher performs it dressed as a woman who convinces her male counterparts that she is extremely desireable. (There is much more to the story than this and you need to remember the title Zamaana Deewana translates as "Crazy World".)

In this version, the lyrics are simplified:

I’m a lovely piece of workI’m a lovely piece of workI’m a lovely piece of workI’m a lovely piece of workI’m a lovely piece of work

I’m not in my sensesAnd on that I’m in my prime YouthI don’t have any consciousnessI’m intoxicated the whole time

I’m a lovely piece of workI’m a lovely piece of workI’m a lovely piece of workI’m a lovely piece of work

The song "Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast Mast" is based on the popular qawwali "Dam Mast Qalandar" by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, also known as the "Pavarotti of Pakistan".

A qawwali is a form of Sufi devotional music popular in South Asia, particularly in: the Punjab and Sindh regions of Pakistan; Hyderabad, Delhi and other parts of India; and, Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet and many parts of Bangladesh. Originally performed at Sufi shrines or dargahs throughout South Asia, it has also gained mainstream popularity due in large part to the contributions of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

According to songmeanings.com, "to understand this qawwali, you need to know a little about the History of the Sufi Saints. Jhoole Lal - A saint from Sindh who as a child was always found on a swing reciting the name of God. Shahbaaz Qalander (Red Falcon) another Sufi Fakir renowned for amazing poetry in love for God." Songmeanings.com provides the following translation:

Upon My breath and in my intoxication is the great Qalander.My worship and upon my breath is the name of Ali.I am intoxicated with the beloved Qalander.I am intoxicated with Jhoole Laal who is intoxicated with Qalander.Keep repeating his name you follower of Ali.You Ali !!! Keep saying his name.

Songmeanings.com adds that these lyrics mirror exactly the name of the qawwali – to be in intoxication or "Mast".

The following playlist features 4 videos: "Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast Mast" from Mohra, "Parody" from Zamaana Deewana, a live performance by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan of "Dam Mast Qalandar", and a remixed audio version of the qawwali by the English trip hop group Massive Attack.

Akshay Kumar's performance was energetic and enjoyed. Fifteen years later when composer A.R. Rahman had the opportunity to work with Akshay Kumar for the first time, he told the Times of India, "My first memory of Akshay is his grooving to 'Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast Mast' with Raveena Tandon in Mohra. The year was 1994 and I had just completed the music of Rangeela.''

Raveena Tandon's performance was also well received. In an April 2012 Rediff interview Raveena Tandon said, "It feels very good that they still call me the 'Mast Mast'girl." While she never expected the song to continue to be such a big hit years later, she recalled the challenge of filming the item number:

"It was just another song and I remember I fainted during the song. I had just come from Kulu Manali. We were shooting in the snow there. I drove down to Delhi and took a flight to Mumbai. I went straight from the airport to Filmistan. The temperature was 35 degrees (95 degrees F) and the studio lights added to the heat. It must have been 40 degrees (104 degrees F) inside and there were no AC studios then. From the snow to this, my blood pressure dropped and I fainted on the sets. It was a very hectic dance routine."

The word "mast" translates to english as "drunk" or "intoxicated". While the word "mast" is repeated often throughout the song, the Eros DVD version of the film provides the following subtitles for the song:

Male: You are a wonderful babeYou are devoid of your sensesYou are devoid of your senses for you have the zeal of youthIt is no fault of yoursFor you are intoxicated every moment

Female:Lover is your nameLover is your nameTo steal and give a heart is your jobDo not hold my arms for you are a man, so malignedTell me, O loveWhat's so special about me?

Male:You are a thread made of silkYou are a thread made of silkLovers strut behind you when you walkYour thick tresses, sweatheart, are like the dark clouds aboveThis heart of mine is drowned in the depth of your eyesBecome my loved one

Female:Do not pierce me with your eyesDo not pierce me with your eyes for it will hurt me all overDo not think it is easy, my dearThis love is very tough

"Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast Mast" was so popular that it was one of the three songs chosen to be incorporated into the 1995 Zamaana Deewana song "Parody".

This item number is particularly noteworthy as Anupam Kher performs it dressed as a woman who convinces her male counterparts that she is extremely desireable. (There is much more to the story than this and you need to remember the title Zamaana Deewana translates as "Crazy World".)

In this version, the lyrics are simplified:

I’m a lovely piece of workI’m a lovely piece of workI’m a lovely piece of workI’m a lovely piece of workI’m a lovely piece of work

I’m not in my sensesAnd on that I’m in my prime YouthI don’t have any consciousnessI’m intoxicated the whole time

I’m a lovely piece of workI’m a lovely piece of workI’m a lovely piece of workI’m a lovely piece of work

The song "Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast Mast" is based on the popular qawwali "Dam Mast Qalandar" by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, also known as the "Pavarotti of Pakistan".

A qawwali is a form of Sufi devotional music popular in South Asia, particularly in: the Punjab and Sindh regions of Pakistan; Hyderabad, Delhi and other parts of India; and, Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet and many parts of Bangladesh. Originally performed at Sufi shrines or dargahs throughout South Asia, it has also gained mainstream popularity due in large part to the contributions of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

According to songmeanings.com, "to understand this qawwali, you need to know a little about the History of the Sufi Saints. Jhoole Lal - A saint from Sindh who as a child was always found on a swing reciting the name of God. Shahbaaz Qalander (Red Falcon) another Sufi Fakir renowned for amazing poetry in love for God." Songmeanings.com provides the following translation:

Upon My breath and in my intoxication is the great Qalander.My worship and upon my breath is the name of Ali.I am intoxicated with the beloved Qalander.I am intoxicated with Jhoole Laal who is intoxicated with Qalander.Keep repeating his name you follower of Ali.You Ali !!! Keep saying his name.

Songmeanings.com adds that these lyrics mirror exactly the name of the qawwali – to be in intoxication or "Mast".

The following playlist features 4 videos: "Tu Cheez Badi Hai Mast Mast" from Mohra, "Parody" from Zamaana Deewana, a live performance by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan of "Dam Mast Qalandar", and a remixed audio version of the qawwali by the English trip hop group Massive Attack.